The present invention relates to appliances having speakers mounted on a housing, and in particular to speaker covers for covering the speakers. The invention also relates to snap-in couplings for the mounting of members, such as speaker covers.
Certain appliances, such as computers, televisions, etc., include speakers mounted to a housing of the appliance. For example, a personal computer typically comprises a metal chassis on which the operational equipment for the computer is mounted. An outer housing, which can be formed of plastic, encompasses the chassis. The outer housing includes front and rear sections, the front portion being in the form of a rectangular bezel which frames the monitor screen of the computer.
Typically, the computer is provided with speakers situated behind the bezel, and the bezel is provided with tiny apertures to emit sound from the speakers. The bezel is normally formed by a molding operation, wherein pins are mounted in the mold to function as cores in the forming of the sound-emitting apertures. The pins are very thin in comparison to the size of the bezel-forming mold cavity, and it is not uncommon for the pins to break in response to the high pressures applied thereto, including the relatively large pressures applied by the molten molding material. Therefore, it would be desirable to enable speakers to be covered by a structure having tiny sound-emitting apertures and yet which can be manufactured more reliably, and which is durable and forms a permanent part of the housing.